Some Bethesda games now on Xbox Game Pass get frame rate boosts on Xbox Series X / S

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass platform received a huge boost with the addition of 20 new Bethesda Softworks titles across Xbox consoles, PC, and xCloud last week. And now, a quarter of those games are getting performance boosts on the next-gen Xbox consoles in a new update.

The performance gains are in frame rate, thanks to an appropriately named new feature Microsoft revealed last month called FPS Boost, which can roughly double frame rates of older games using new Xbox hardware without requiring developers to do any manual work.

The games seeing performance boosts with frame rate jumps up to 60 frames per second include Arkane Studios’ Dishonored: Definitive Edition and Prey and Bethesda Game Studios’ The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76. Microsoft announced on March 15th that the updates are going out that day.

The announcement was initially made during a YouTube live stream on March 12th between Xbox Live programming director Larry Hryb (aka “Major Nelson”) and comms chief Jeff Rubenstein, in which Rubenstein discussed the benefits the new Xbox Series X / S can bring to older Bethesda titles.

Microsoft said in its announcement last week that “a handful of these games will also benefit from FPS Boost on Xbox Series X / S,” though it did not specify which at the time. it also said 16 of the 20 Bethesda games coming to Xbox Game Pass would be available across PC and xCloud in addition to Xbox consoles. You can find a list of which platforms which games are available here.

Update March 15th, 12:50PM ET: Added information from a blog post Microsoft published on Monday indicating the updates would be pushed live later today.